While it's important to find the right location for a business to succeed, it sometimes works to design a suitable business for an exact location. What better then, than setting up a juice bar - using locally-sourced fruit and vegetables - on the edge of the Garden of England?

63 Harbour Street in Whitstable, Kent, is a startup business making the most of its position. After a lifetime in catering its owner, Stephen Jones, saw a gap in the market in the seaside town for a fresh juice and smoothie bar. He wanted to capitalise on Kent's reputation for growing produce and use neighbourhood suppliers for other requirements.

Jones attributes the business's success to a general ethos in the Whitstable area which leans towards localism. He said: "We play directly to desires for traceability, authenticity and provenance, and for a local narrative and sense of place.

"Customers are increasingly concerned about where goods come from and how they got here and we are able to point to the fact that 10 out of our 13 suppliers are local to Whitstable."

Whitstable is a popular place to visit and tourists are also keen to buy local flavour. Jones says: "We have a clientele composed of approximately equal numbers of local regulars and visitors from the rest of the UK and abroad and since we opened in April 2011, we have grown continuously with a 30% increase in turnover year-on-year to date."

Jones's suppliers include a small Kentish orchard that provides all his apples for juicing and a greengrocer in the high street from whom he buys carrots, pears and celery. The tea and coffee served at 63 Harbour Street is blended by a local specialist.

In order to fulfil his criteria for ideal suppliers, Jones leant heavily on social media. He says the website B2B was an important resource which led him to his apple supplier and he found a "brilliant" local baker via Twitter, and he sourced his chocolate maker from LinkedIn.

Jones says that rather than searching nationwide for the cheapest price on good produce, focusing on forging links close to home is paying off. "If suppliers know there will be return business and logistics are obviously cheaper, they can usually be as competitive as big companies from elsewhere."

He also made use of Produced in Kent, an organisation set up by Kent County Council to connect businesses. It also provides backup support in maintaining relationships, legal advice and assistance with health and hygiene certification.

Jones enthuses about the quality of Kent produce, especially its apples. "They are terrific during the Kent growing season. It's helpful that because I don't care what fruit looks like… apples can be the size of a golf ball, or of a fist. They are unsprayed and taste fantastic."

There's a synchronicity too. The arrangement suits local orchards, which can't sell odd-looking fruit to fit the exacting demands of the supermarkets, and the willingness of Jones to add fine Kentish apples to the local mix.